norichan’s blog

Tho it's not done yet, I have to say, this weekend has been busy.  Yesterday I went to Lambtown, had lunch with Randie, saw Batman with friends, went hot tubbing with friends afterwards, then slept a ton.  Today I will be going to learn how to spin yarn out of roving.  Sweetness!  I bought a wee bit of fiber to practice spinning at Lambtown, as long as some bright pink fingering weight yarn that was hand dyed!  Can you believe that I got 440 yds of single pot hand dyed sock yarn for $12??  Sure it's a semi solid, but still in a 100% merino wool that was hand dyed, that's insane!  For those of you non-knitters, $12 normally buys you 1 skein of 220yds of a larger mass produced sock yarn (and it takes at least 300yds of sock yarn to make even ankle socks... so you have to buy 2)  It was great.  :o)  I'll leave you off with some pics...

So, I still don't have the energy to put up pics from Seattle... nor have I taken any more knitting photos... My bad.  I do have to finish up my 9 to 5 socks, the chicken viking hat, and I started the drop stich lace tank in Fitted Knits.  Since the chicken viking hat is the most urgent, I think I shall go work on that right after this.

In other news, this past weekend was quite interesting.  I went to Renegade Craft Fair on Saturday with my mom.  She met up with some other etsy sellers she knows.  :o)  I think it's awesome that there's such a community waiting for people to find, and that the internet is making it possible.  My mom wouldn't know about these shows around the Bay Area if it weren't for the other sellers in her group.  And next year?  My mom's planning on doing this show.  There were a lot of other people looking around.  I bought a few things:  a tee, a necklace, a bracelet, and a hair pin.  My mom picked up a felting kit and a few odds and ends.  It was very inspiring.  I almost wish I didn't have to go back to school... then I'd have the time to craft my own things and perhaps also get into doing things like this.  Of course... I think all these other people have other jobs, and the crafting thing is a side project/extra money for them.  I can't imagine a single one of those people not wishing that it could be the only thing to pay their bills though.  :o)  Wouldn't that be a dream come true?

Sunday I went to the SF sock knit group.  Got to H cafe late (again...).  Don't know why I can't get there on time.  But nevertheless, I got there.  We're planning on getting a whole group picture of us standing in front of the shop with our socks on!  I'm so excited!  Except that I'm not even done with one sock yet.  And the August meeting is actually coming up quite fast.  Thus the, I need to get those done!!  I was good at the store this time. I got really pritty double points.  They are made of ebony wood by Lantern Moon.  Other than the fact that they were EXPENSIVE... I figure I didn't get any yarn this time.  That kinda makes up for it.  :o)  Afterwards, I went to Article Pract (lys in oakland) and signed up for a spinning class!  I'm really excited about that! 

And the evening?  I spent that getting to know some new friends.  :o)  Like I said... it's been an interesting weekend.

PS - Who's going to Lambtown??  And spinning this coming weekend??  Oh the joys of discovering fibers.  Maybe I'll buy some fiber at Lambtown to spin after I learn on Sunday!!

I should be going to bed, since I have to wake up way too early... but I decided to do some quick updates.  I went to Seattle/Forest Grove/Portland/Bellevue (all within 3.5hrs of each other) for the past 1.5 weeks, and let me tell you, it was way fun.  I got to see people I haven't seen in over a month, relax, NOT WORK, eat A LOT, play with puppies, etc etc.  It was fantastic.  Now I'm back to the real world and I can tell you I'm not enjoying it.  My first day back at work was fine, nothing majorly bad... but I just wasn't into it.  My enthusiasm has waned.  I can feel that my wrist/arm still hurts... so I'm off of knitting for a short bit.  Which means I'm reading... I finished a book that's 503 pgs in one day.  I started this morning... read to work, read during lunch, read a bit during boring bits of work, read on the way home, then finished up after dinner.  I get a bit obsessed when I start a book.  I just want to keep reading until I'm finished.  Same with knitting.  That's probably why my wrists/elbows/arms hurt.  Because I don't want to stop. 

Anyways, all in all, I had a vacation and I wish I were still on it.  Pics will be put up later seeing as I should head off to bed so that I can wake up and leave for work 1.5 hrs before I start, work for 10 hrs, then head back home for another 1.5 hrs... yeah, a blast... Good thing I've only got a little over a month's worth of work left!

It was a beautiful day yesterday as I arrived at Union Square.  I met up with a couple of the people in my SF sock knitting group.  I didn't work on my socks, but instead on a present that I'd like to finish soon.  I've gotten a bit of progress made on my sock anyways.  So, it looks good.  Here are a couple pics from then:

There was a guy named Mike who does podcasts there.  I got interviewed too!  :o)  There were probably about 30 of us there.  It was good fun.  A couple people brought spinning work instead of knitting too.  It looks sooo cool!

I've done some quite amazingly fun things lately.  Most of them... involving yarn.  The "A verb for keeping warm" party was neat.  I bought some linen/merino mix and a sock yarn:

Aren't they pretty??

I also forgot to post the amazing Hello Kitty box set that I picked up from woolgirl:

Starting with the yarn and going clockwise, specially dyed yarn from White Oaks Studio in the color Hello Kitty, Hello Kitty soaps, a Hello Kitty pouch, Hello Kitty figurine, Hello Kitty stitch markers, a Hello Kitty pen, and a Hello Kitty notebook.  Also included was a special sock pattern to go with the Hello Kitty yarn.  I feel so special!!  I also won some of the leftovers that will come in the mail soon.  Extra pouch, pen, figurine.  Something along those lines.  I loooove the stitch markers:
I bought a bag from bungalow 360:
Yeah... I'm a sucker for anything cute.  Not to mention pink.  Combine the two??  *sigh*  I couldn't resist.  :oD

Hmm, on Sunday, I went to H cafe and met up with my SF sock group.  Filled with super cool people.  Then we went to Imagiknit and uhm... can we just say I was in yarn heaven??  Yeah, I meant to take pics and stuff, but when I got there I kinda fell into a yarn coma and didn't get out of it until I had bought too much.  No pics of my loot... but let's just say that some Malabrigo and Shibui (in Pagoda) kinda just ended up in my basket.  ;o)

I also went around town with Jordan afterwards.  We got lunch and then looked around a small area of the Mission.  The best part was definitely this store:

It was filled with zines and other cool indie artist things.  Cute ties, shirts, bags, hair clips, etc etc.  It inspired me.  I almost want to open my own line.  I don't know if I really could... but I did really want to be a fashion designer at one point in my life.  I could do that while being an optometrist.  It would be kinda cool.  Have a steady job that pays the bills, and a fun one that supplements and allows me to buy more yarn and whatnot.  I'm really tempted and yet nervous at the same time.  We'll see in the next few weeks what I decide on doing. 

Bikram was intense and much harder a workout than I thought it would be.  Yoga had never been that hard for me before.  In fact, it was just more of a stretching and grounding myself experience.  Bikram was just different.  It's not like I didn't like it... it just wasn't the relaxing experience I had thought it would be.  I'm going back tomorrow... so we'll see how the second session goes.  I'm also going to hit the library... I checked out a ton of book last week, and I'm already done with 5 of them.  And 4 of them are knitting books... so it's not like I'm going to intensely read those.  I need reinforcements!  And should return the ones that I'm done with.  Tomorrow is also Thursday dinner.  yay.  Another thing to get excited about?  WWKIP day.  Or world wide knit in public day.  This Sat.  Apparently there are going to be people from my sock group at Union Square.  That sounds like a lot of fun.  Def an opportunity to take pics.  How often am I going to be able to take a pic of a group of knitters knitting in the middle of Union Square?  I better not forget to take me camera.  :o)

Erg... time to get ready for bed.  I am super tired, and have an early work day tomorrow...

Who's going to try out Bikram yoga??  :oD  This week has been super duper stressful so far.  Working overtime... sleeping thru my alarm... nightmares about bugs... but there is light at the end of the tunnel!!

Tomorrow is Thursday dinners, I'm excited to see where we shall be going this week.  So far, we've done Saul's (a jewish deli) and then we did Cheeseboard Pizza and saw Office Space in theatres!  Tomorrow my plans include working a partial day, going to the library until bikram, yoga, go home and shower, then dinner! 

Saturday will be Tai Chi and then some hand dyed yarns...

Yay for yarn!!  I'm thinking of the 1000 yds of lace weight yak.  Then I'd have a valid reason to join Seasons of Lace on ravelry.  ;o)

Sunday is going to be fun in the city.  I'll be meeting up with fellow ravelers for an excursion at H cafe and then Imagiknit!  I don't know what I'd do without knitting.  Haha.  Tho, it's pretty bad.  I saw a blog of someone who got into weaving.  She says that it reinvents how you think of yarn.  *drools*  More ways of using yarn??  I have got to stop.  :o)  Man, I still have to take pics of my current projects.  Maybe tomorrow in the better outdoor lighting.  Oh, and my hair!  Soon...

I did another yoga class today.  I find it so great.  It doesn't feel super hard, but you can tell that you are doing something, and when you're all done, you feel fantastic!  It's like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders and you're more relaxed and in tune with yourself.  I am going to see if I can somehow get to the Bikram near me and try that one out.  It sounds harder, but it would be good to try a different type out as well.

After yoga I bought a bunch of stuff for myself.  I have only photographed my mom's gift, which I thought was adorable:

Spartacus!  Apparently made from one continuous piece of string.  I thought he was quite adorable.  I may have to go back and buy one for myself.  Possibly a vampire.  Hehe.  I'm a sucker for anything cute.  *sigh*

I also went to a cupcake place near me, super cute!

No, I don't know those people, they just got in my way when I tried to take a pic of the store front.
Those were amongst the ones I bought.  Today was the "Grand Opening" so they also had free samples.  They were delicious.  :o)  I ate way too much refined sugars today tho.  Ah well.

I have to get pics of my new haircut up soon.  I'll do that when I find someone to take pics for me.  Whenever I take pics of myself, it takes me forever to get a good one.  I don't know why.  Whereas, when someone else takes it, I usually am fine with how it turns out.  Hehe.  I also have to take pics of my latest knitting.  I'm getting a good way into a hat and a scarf... but no pics yet.  I'm just being lazy.  I'll do that soon enough.  Bed time for now tho.  G'night!

So, it's been over a week now.  I had some really weak moments during that week.  But you know what.  I'm a stronger person than before.  I've relied on others for so long that I couldn't be true to myself.  I'm going to work on changing that.  I am going to go to a knitting group tomorrow.  Yay!  I *think I will force myself to a free yoga class tomorrow.  I am a little more hesitant about that b/c I'm a total beginner, and it could be embarrassing for me.  But I guess that is a part of conquering my fears.  That will also make me a stronger person.  Therefore, I think I should force myself to go.  I realized how I'm a happy person inherently and that I hate feeling like this.  I still don't sleep well.  Hard to fall asleep, wake up multiple times in the night, can't fall back asleep.  But that should fade.  My times of weakness is when I'm tired, so early mornings and these nights that I can't sleep well.  But during the day I keep reinforcing my thoughts.  I think I'll get thru this faster than I initially thought.  I am doing this for myself, not for anyone else is the thought that is the hardest to get into my head.

On an off subject, I made vegan cupcake/muffins last night.  I mod-ed an old tried and true vegan muffin recipe, then saw what I had (from Jason's odd collection of random stuff) and then worked.  I made matcha green tea muffins (the better of the two), and chocolate raspberry cupcakes.  I call them muffins and cupcakes respectively b/c even tho they are both not very sweet, I found that the green tea ones would do well in a shallow bread pan and the chocolate ones would do well with frosting on top.  They were total experiment since I just tossed a little of this and a little of that in to the basic recipe.  It was better than a total disaster, but not so great that I'd totally share the recipe with you now.  I think I'm going to keep experimenting and find some stuff that I wouldn't be shy in sharing with you.  :o)  This is going to be a great summer, filled with new (be they sad or happy) experiences.  Thanks to everyone who has helped me so far on this journey, it's going to be a long one, and I hope you continue to be a part of my life.  :o)

I hung out with friends.  It was nice.  They tried to keep me busy.  I ate more today than normal.  I still got teary periodically.  I think I'm going to sign up for a tai chi class at the local community college here.  It's 1x/week.  It would be nice to have a weekly activity.  I'm trying to find someone to go with me tho.  Haven't convinced anyone just yet.  Maybe my brother or his girlfriend would like to.  Hmm... It's just easier to go with someone than to go by yourself.  But I think I'll sign up for it no matter what.  I also am thinking about signing up for a pilates and/or yoga class.  Exercise good stress reliever, and it'll give me something to do at least for a couple hours once or twice a week.  I need slow moving things b/c I'm not very coordinated, ha!  Funny b/c I want to learn to breakdance.  Don't see a class for that tho... Okies.  Bed time fo sho.  Past it, in fact.

It's now official.  Life has gotten worse.  I was trying (not always effectively) to cope with this.  Things went sour, and now I lost my best friend.  We are taking time apart.  I know that I need to heal.  I know this is probably for the better.  That doesn't help me feel any less lost.  He was my best friend.  The one that was always there for me.  Even beyond the official break up.  He helped me through so much.  Now I have to build myself again.  I know this is for my own good.  I need to learn to be okay with myself.  Give myself the self confidence I've always lacked.  Always.  Find an inner core within me to stand on.

But all I can see at this exact moment is that I've lost my best friend.  I am partly to blame.  I don't believe that I'm entirely to blame.  But I will admit that I didn't help things.  I've followed my feelings so many times in my life.  I've done terrible things, and I've done great things.  I need to learn now.  I just hope to have friends along for the journey.  It'll make things a little easier if they are there helping me find the way.  We'll see what the future holds.  I've got to let go of the past.  It's just too bad that all of this here is easier said than done.  When the day comes that I can look back and realize that I truly am better... then I will feel good about myself.  I hope that one day he will also look back and see goodness again.  I will be a better best friend then.  I will be able to help others without getting lost and losing myself. 

I hope that the day comes that both of us look forward and see that we're better.  Then we will talk again.  That will be a great day.  I love him.  I will miss him dearly.  I WILL move on.  I WILL get better.  Only then will I be able to effectively deal with this.  I work to become a better person.  I work to become someone I like.  I will do whatever it takes.  Then I will feel good about myself.  Please help me find the end.  Thank you in advance.